Southern Scraps

Happy New Year! Many of you will be making resolutions today and tomorrow, and for many, one of them will be to get organized. I know my craft room needs cleaning and organizing. Here are seven ideas and DIY projects to help with that daunting task.   Paint stick jewelry organizer by infarrantly creative     High heel shoe rack by centsational girl

Yesterday I shared my top 10 posts of 2012 , according to stats on views. Today I'm sharing 10 of my least viewed, not necessarily the absolute lowest 10, and in no particular order, just 10 that caught my eye when I was scrolling through the view count. DIY mint earrings Spider web pumpkin

Where did the year go? I say this every year. Nonetheless, I think it's been a pretty productive year. So what did I craft? Here are my top 10 posts, according to Blogger's views stats, in the order of most viewed.   Dollar tree skeleton wreath   Men's dress skirt to skirt  

    For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor , Mighty God, Everlasting Father , Prince of Peace . Isaiah 9:6   Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. On my list for today's "Must Do Monday" is to spend time with my hubby and to reflect on what this season is truly about. I hope you find every blessing in store for you.   I may not post here much this week. I may make a few changes and visit a few of you but I'm taking a break from posts. I'll be back soon.

I have been saving some Starbucks Frappicino bottles for quite some time. I finally used them to make some stocking stuffers. I took some cardstock strips and made a Santa bottle. It's filled with red Hershey's kisses.   Then I took more Hershey's kisses and labeled them with free printable labels from Amanda's Parties to Go.  I filled more bottles and then topped the bottles with ribbon and flowers from my scrapbook stash. I love how they turned out.    

I love setting a cheery table outside as much as I do setting one inside. However, I have limited Christmas table decor. I spent $7 for some dessert plates and tumblers from Wal-greens and then pulled this together from what I had on hand. The green plates and white mats came from the Dollar Tree. The plates and these green napkin rings were previously used at Easter.  I stuck a candy cane in each one to make it a little more festive. I love the subway art tumblers. The snowmen votive holders are another inexpensive item from Fred's that I have had for years. The centerpiece is the same as my fall setting , just different garland and candles. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. I'll be sharing here: Tablescape Thursday And some of these places Think Pink Sundays * Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Craftomaniac Monday * Make the Scene Monday * Make It Pretty Monday * Masterpiece Monday * Motivate Me Monday * Mark

I had so much fun making glitter ornaments that I spent some time this past weekend making more.  I made three in red for my Georgia tree (it's not up this year, but maybe next year) and I made three more for stocking stuffers. I made another polka dot ornament   Then I made a white one with red dots. I combined both the floor cleaner and the mod podge techniques for this. I made a solid red one and turned it into a Santa belly band ornament with a strip of felt and a buckle cut from silver glitter cardstock with my Nestabilities square dies. My mother-in-law collects angels so I made a white glitter ornament into an angel of sorts by gluing some feathers to the back. Finally I made a silver one and decorated it with a blue ribbon and rosette made from the ribbon.     These are so much fun. I had a hard time picking a favorite. Which is your favorite?   Sharing here:   Think Pink Sundays * Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Cra

  One week to go! Do you need a cute, quick gift for someone? The hubby and I made these last year for our Sunday School class and a few others. We picked up the mugs at Wal-mart for less than a dollar each and filled them with chocolate spoons and an instant cocoa packet. You can make the spoons really festive with sprinkles and make them in almost any color scheme you want. To make the spoons, you will need: chocolate or other flavor chips plastic spoons sprinkles Melt the chips over low heat. Dip the spoons in and then lay them on wax paper to cool. Go ahead and add sprinkles before they cool, so the sprinkles will stick. Once they are done, tie them up in some plastic. We stuck a small treat bag over the spoon and tied it with ribbon. Our complete package was placed in a festive goody bag from the Dollar tree and a tag was tied on with ribbon.  I made tags with the computer and scalloped punches using Psalm 34:8- "Taste and see that the Lord is good."

Only a week left 'til Christmas. It's time to get those gifts wrapped up. The packaging make the simplest of gifts seem extravagant.  Here are  five unique ways to wrap a gift. I think this one is my all time favorite. Of course, it involves glitter.  I'm definitely doing this in the future. Glitter tags and boxes     Button stamped     Pom pom gift wrap       Clothespin embellishments     Ribbon and candy    

Before I drive on with all of the fun and festivities, I just wanted to say to the victims of Sandy  Hook and their families how truly sorry that I am. There are little words to offer over something like this. You are in my prayers. May the God of peace and comfort prevail in a world that seems so bad. His heart breaks for you too and for those who make the wrong choices.

Welcome to my holiday home. If you follow me, then this is likely just an overview of what you've already seen. If not, click the links for more details. If you're new, welcome and please say hello and let me know you're visiting. If you like what you see, won't you follow me? Let's begin at the front door. Before we head in, we might want to enjoy the front porch and the no sew Christmas pillows. Once inside, we'll enjoy a meal at my table set in a Christmas candy tablescape. When we're ready to move to the living room for a visit, we'll pass by a Christmas vignette with a reminder of what's this is all about. From the living room we can enjoy the blue and green tree and mantel. Before you go, maybe you'd like a cup of coffee in the morning room. It got some treatment for the first time this year with the wreaths and ornament topiary . I hope you've enjoyed the little tour. I'll be linking

This year's tree is in the same color scheme as last year, but I used less of the white and more blue and green ornaments.   Here's a shot where I played around with the camera to get the lights to "sparkle" or look like starbursts.

I used the gumdrop tree again this year and used the same color scheme for my Christmas tablescape , but I changed things up a little this time. I placed candy canes in hurricane vases in epsom salts. I was inspired by The Inspired Room to do this.

Do you make it a point to bake during the holiday season, or are you just too busy? If your answer is too busy, I promise you're not too busy to try this quick bread. I've made it twice now in the past three weeks. I adapted this recipe from  Grain Mill Wagon . I wanted to make a whole wheat cranberry quick bread but I just didn't like any of the recipes I found. They required too many ingredients or the orange juice turned me off. Here's my adapted recipe: 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk ( I put a tablespoon of vinegar in a cup of milk and then use 3/4.) 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 cup craisins 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 large eggs 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/8 tsp salt 1/2 cup (or more) white chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl combine flours, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. In a smaller bowl, combine buttermilk, oil and eggs; sti